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Mama Connagher Day 8

The bad news: I was going to post this last night, but I wasn’t feeling the best and I was too busy today.

Today (yesterday) was a take care of the wrists day. My hands kept hurting throughout the morning, so I put on my wrists splints and worked in them all day. They helped tremendously, though it did make me slower than usual. I also feel a weird thing going on with my stomach tonight.

I didn’t want any coffee tonight. I know, right? I might be dying! [I’m still off my coffee, sob!]

The good news: I finished the main draft! I just have 2 more story-within-the-story scenes to figure out. Then I’ll need to drag a few scenes around in Scrivener, compile, and see what kind of mess I made.

1947 words. Mama’s overall word count is sitting at 52,088. By the time I add a little more on the other thread, that should be around 55K, about what I was thinking.

Snippet: this is a shorter excerpt – I’ve got to keep *some* secrets, laugh! It’s a flashback scene with Jeb and Virginia and such a heartbreaker – though you don’t get it all here. Poor Jeb!

“I still remember the first time I saw you.” He didn’t sit down, but kept hold of her arm, standing in the shadow of the wall. “I was in the first grade and you’d just started kindergarten. We were outside at recess the first day of school and Bobby Wagner tried to cut in front of you in the line for the tallest slide. I was surprised you got in that line. Most of the little kids were too scared of it because it was twice as tall as the others, but that’s the first thing you headed for. When you pushed him back, he knocked you down. I ran toward you but before I could help, you stood up and smacked him in the mouth. You said, ‘You got my dress dirty. I hate this ugly thing but it’s Mama’s favorite. If this stain doesn’t come out, I’m going to smack you again.’ And even though Bobby was three years older than you and could have beat the crap out of me, he hightailed it out of there lickity split.”

“Mrs. Baker came over to ask what had happened. Why Bobby’s mouth was bloody. And you said you’d hit him because he pushed me. Why’d you lie for me?”

“You burst into tears. I thought it was because you were afraid of getting in trouble, so I took the blame. Later you told me it was because you were afraid Miss Belle would think you got the dress dirty on purpose because you hated it so much.”

Virginia laughed. “Yeah, I hated to wear dresses. She finally gave up and let me wear whatever I wanted after that.”

“We’ve been best friends ever since.”

Her smile slipped. She still had her arm tucked in his and it felt so natural to drop her head against his shoulder and just look up at the sky. The city lights muted most of the stars, but she could barely make out Orion’s Belt. “Yeah.”

“You used to tell me everything. If you were in trouble, you came to me. If you needed help with homework, we did it together. When Miss Belle upset you, you called me. If you needed a ride, an ear to listen, anything. Yet you’re suddenly engaged and I had no idea until my sister told me in passing.”

She turned and pressed her face against his arm. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“You didn’t even tell me you were dating anyone.”

He said it softly, his voice echoing with regret and pain, not recrimination, but she still winced. “We didn’t date, exactly. One minute I was smacking him and the next we’re engaged.”

“Yeah,” he blew out a deep breath. “Knowing you, I can see how that would happen.” His voice became wistful and younger, like a kid asking for a bedtime story. “I can see you love him. I just didn’t expect it to happen. Not like that. I thought…” He sighed again and leaned back against the wall. The movement drew her with him, shifting so she almost faced him. “What about me, Ginny?”

She pulled back to look into his face. Illuminated by the streetlight, he gave her a stricken look as if she’d just kicked a dog for no good reason. “What about you?”

He raked his hand through his hair, tumbling it down over his forehead and roughing it up as if he’d been out on a bender all night. “Yeah. What about me. I guess that says it all.”